UConn Fined For Animal Welfare Violations

October 16, 2012|BY WILLIAM WEIR, bweir@courant.com, The Hartford Courant

The University of Connecticut paid $12,429 in fines last month for animal welfare violations, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Tuesday.

The fines are for 10 violations observed during inspections between 2008 and 2010, mostly involving the treatment of rabbits at a research facility at the UConn Health Center.

In most cases, USDA officials stated that the researchers failed to carry out certain experiments as they were described in the approved protocols, which are detailed descriptions of the procedures to be used.

In one violation, for instance, USDA officials stated that an experiment that involved 12 to 14 needle insertions in each rabbit was not carried out according to the protocol. In another experiment, a researcher "deviated from the approved methods for inducing general anesthesia," resulting in the unexpected death of a rabbit.

David Sacks, a spokesman for the USDA, said the violations were all observed during surprise inspections.

"The goal is to get a clean inspection, but that's more the goal than reality," he said.

Sacks said disciplinary actions can range from a letter of warning with no monetary penalty to a maximum fine of $10,000.

UConn paid the fines last month, he said. Every month, the USDA releases information about cases that have been settled in the previous 30 days.

"Twelve thousand dollars is certainly a hefty enough penalty, but there have been certainly larger ones than that," he said. "I've seen bigger fines than that and I've seen smaller ones."

Michael Budkie, executive director of the animal advocacy group Stop Animal Exploitation Now, said the fines should have been larger.

"These federal violations not only endanger animals, but also bring into question the validity of research conducted at UConn," Budkie said in a statement.

Jeff Small, associate vice president of the health center's office of research administration and finance, said that UConn values its researchers' work and that part of its research effort "involves the humane and ethical treatment of animals."

The UConn Health Center cooperated fully with the investigation, as we are committed to full compliance with all relevant animal welfare laws and guidelines followed by major research universities throughout the country," Smalls said in a prepared statement. "We constantly monitor and evaluate our use of animals in research to remain in compliance and improve the quality of our animal care activities."